Eggs-traordinary Easter

Back in 2021 when the world was still trying to overcome the pandemic, Justin and I were just in the beginning phases of our new relationship. Being the germophobe I was even before the pandemic; this was heightened even more during the rough two-year period. I leaned heavily into one of my favorite hobbies, hiking, because it could be done outside, and it was much easier to social distance. Hiking at Buffalo River State Park is actually where Justin and I met, so hiking and that particular State Park hold a special place in our hearts.

Easter in 2021 was still during the timeframe that it was not advised to gather together so there was not a family easter meal or celebration that year and we decided to celebrate safely and apart to keep each other safe. To make up for an unfortunate circumstance, Justin and I tried to make the best of it so we bought 3 dozen eggs a few days before Easter Sunday. Justin tried to advise me that this may be overkill and we probably only needed a dozen, but I had other plans and due to our relationship still being new Justin did not put up too much of a protest.

Once we got home, I immediately got to work and started boiling the eggs. All 3 dozen got hard boiled which took all 4 burners to accomplish. After the eggs had been hard boiled and cooled, we started by coloring a dozen of the eggs. We took great pride in making the eggs very vibrant and colorful. After the eggs had been colored and our hands were stained, we then started pealing another dozen of the eggs and slicing them in half. The second dozen eggs were made into deviled eggs using my mom’s recipe that she makes every Easter. At this point after we had 12 colored eggs in the fridge and 24 deviled egg halves, Justin was content with our eggy creations and excited to enjoy these delectable, seasonal staples, but there was one more dozen eggs in the fridge, so we got to cracking and I whipped up another one of my mom’s famous recipes- egg salad! I even premade at least 10 egg salad sandwiches.

After my fridge was full egg-cellent creations, it was time to go on an adventure or two! Justin and I decided to check out Banning State Park and Moose Lake State Park on Saturday and we would stay close to home on Easter Sunday and visit Buffalo River State Park. For our Saturday adventure, we made sure to start our the day with a couple of decorated hard boiled eggs and a deviled egg or two for dessert, we also packed some hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches for snacks, lunch and dinner. The first day of packing our diet chock full of eggs was a treat! We had so much fun cracking and peeling the hardboiled eggs while sitting on the tailgate of the vehicle after exploring the beautiful Banning State Park. The deviled eggs were a great grab and go snack while driving that we both enjoyed. And egg salad sandwiches are always a favorite for me and Justin (which is one of the many reasons we got married).

By the end of the first day of eating nothing but eggs, our stomachs started to protest. The eggs were causing excessive bloating and some nasty toots… But it was still worth it because eggs are an easter tradition and they are also delicious, and we had three dozen of them that needed to be consumed.

Easter Sunday, we started strong again by having a hard boiled egg and deviled egg breakfast. And we packed a cute picnic basket filled with you guessed it, EGGS, and headed to Buffalo River State Park. After our routine 3 mile loop hike, we found a picnic table next to the river and enjoyed a couple of egg salad sandwiches each, some deviled eggs, and of course some pretty hard boiled eggs. It was delicious! We knew that the fact we had consumed eggs in 3 different ways was ridiculous but we also knew that we had just created a memory that we would never forget and that had been the goal. Even though our traditional easter gatherings had to be put on hold, we still made happy memories!

We had leftover hard boiled eggs and deviled eggs going into the work week and we made sure to not let any of them go to waste, but our stomachs were pretty annoyed at the excessive egg diet we had started at the end of this 5 day period and we both agreed that we were probably good on eggs for the foreseeable future.

Justin just brought up our egg-stra special Easter from 2021 recently and wanted to recreate an all-egg picnic again, but on a smaller scale and I just had to share it with you all! The fact that Justin and I consumed 3 dozen eggs in less than a week and we still stayed together and eventually got married is a test of patience and true love.

Boiling Eggs just not 3 dozen- Krysta